Living in comfort
by FarmerGamer
Summary: What happens when the Smashers welcome the 4th annual Smash tourny newcomers, Read and find out.
1. Chapter 1: Pilot

The veterans of the Smash tournament were seated in the stands facing the northern stage entry. The stage in the center was a circular smooth cyan blue surface with a grippable edge. This stage was dubbed The Final Destination. It earned its title by being the go to stage for the finale in the mini tournaments which was held throughout the year. The people in the stands were waiting for the newcomers to be formally announced.

This was a very momentous occasion for the oncoming fighters. They will be introduced, then, a veterans name will be drawn out of a hat. The newcomers will fight the name that is drawn from the hat, how they score in that fight determines their place in the first round of battles.

The veterans and newcomers, called smashers as a whole, had access to all the fighters records so they could be ready for the unexpected fight ahead of them. Those, like Zelda, who actually read it held a distinct advantage over those who just read over the readers notes, like Link. Many a times, Zelda would put in false information about the newcomers to throw Link off. Like in the newest batch they were introducing today, according to Zelda's notes Lucina is an average Cleric, taking after her aunt Lissa, who cannot fight herself but will heal you in a team battle. Her sword Falchion is just there to intimidate people and to make them afraid of her. While the villager, is an old friend of Ness and used to study Psi abilities with him.

As the veterans began to take their seats, you could instantly determine divides between them. The group dubbed the baddies by the teenagers of the mansion contained Bowser, Ganondorf, King Dedede, and the likes. These only seat relatively close to each other because they can trust each other to to engage in pointless small talk.

Another group, which is the most aggravating ones if you were to ask 'The Baddies', contained the smashers that were all relatively close to their late-teens. Mainly 16 and onward. Although younger than the rest, being 15, Pit tended to hover around this group more than any other. He was taking his seat in the row just above that of the rest of the group, careful not to be too intrusive. The others didn't seem to mind his presence though.

The small talk made by the smashers was cut short by the blaring voice of the announcer. This year, they hired a new one, a younger fellow in his early 20's. He began with the history of the Tournament and mansion alike. The mansion being the place they are allowed to stay, not to far from the Coliseum, the place regular tournaments and fights take place. This is where the smashers work. They don't fight, they don't get to live the life of luxury they are living in.

The announcer silenced the crowd and started to introduce the newcomers.

The first was a younger looking girl in a strapless dress that opened to reveal her left leg. She was adorned with a circular shield on her left forearm, and a long staff in her right hand. None of this was the most striking thing about her, no, it was her long emerald hair and the eyes to match. Her cold glare told you she meant business. Her entire demeanor changed when she saw her old friend.

Samus could see the change in her body language when she looked above Samus in the crowd. After an examination, Samus knew where she looked familiar from. The person the girl was looking at was none other than Pit. Samus remembered her from the last tournament. Not that she was in it directly, but Samus could see her teleporting her army onto the stage whenever Pit acquired a Smash Ball.

The girl in the middle of the stage was none other than Lady Palutena herself, divine goddess of light.

After a short introduction, the announcer, who insisted that we called him Phil reached over and grabbed a single name out of a hat containing all of the veterans. Phil then unfurled the slip and leaned into the microphone.

"The first matchup tomorrow will be Palutena vs" Phil then paused for dramatic effect "...Zelda".

Link heard Zelda take a short gasp of air before collecting her thoughts. He knew Zelda well enough to know that she was already coming up with a strategy for the fight.

The goddess then took her seat on the other side of the stadium that was reserved for newcomers only.

The next newcomer to walk onto the stage was Lucina. This caused Zelda to smile, remembering the joke she pulled on Link.

Soon enough though all the newcomers were introduced and the fights were posted on the many bulletin boards throughout the mansion. Most notably in the rec room, Residential Wing, and Cafeteria. There was also a bulletin in the Training room.

The matchups went as follows:

Palutena vs. Zelda

Lucina vs. Link

Dark Pit vs Pit

Greninja vs. Mario

Bowser Jr. vs. Olimar

Robin vs. Captain Falcon

Little Mac vs. Zero suit Samus

Villager vs. Ness

Wii Fit Trainer vs. Sheik

Shulk vs. Samus

Duck Hunt

Mega Man vs. Sonic

Pacman vs. Ike

Rosalina vs. Peach

After the final newcomer was announced, the smashers went on their own way for the rest of the day. Some took to the showers, while others enjoyed their free day. Samus, Link, and Zelda wound up in the Rec room. Samus was mid-match against Zelda in chess, while Link was going over the matchups for the next day.

"I am guessing you have already started your strategy for tomorrow" Link said towards Zelda.

"One game at a time Link" Zelda said as she moved her knight to take out one of Samus' pawns. Samus then scuffed as she guided her rook to take out Zelda's freshly moved knight. "Don't be so confident" Zelda retorted as she sprang her trap and captured Samus rook and declared a "check".

"Any way, Link, do you really think it wise for us to openly discuss our strategies for tomorrow" Zelda asked him.

"Why yes, you know that the newcomers are not allowed in this section of the mansion yet for that very reason. Their 'trapped' in the visitor wing" Link retorted.

"Yea Zelda, come on, what has the wise mistress come up with to fell the divine goddess of light" Samus joked.

"If you two insist on knowing, i don't know" Zelda said.

"Wait Zelda going into a fight without a strategy?!" Link teased.

"I don't know what to do, I'm going into a fight blind, I don't know what she is capable of" Zelda tried to defend herself.

Samus responded "There is only one person you can contact about that Zelda, go talk with Pit".

"I have, but he doesn't want to betray his highness. What of you Samus, how can you have two fights in one day? How come they put your name in the bowl twice?" Zelda said.

"Simple, the head guys approached me the other day with a proposal. They said that i had two options, forego my Zero suit. Or fight in them separately without switching back and forth like I used to" Samus responded.

"So basically crippling you?" Link questioned.

"Kinda, but I went to work on a few upgrades that just might give me an upper hand" Samus said with a smirk on her face.


	2. Chapter 2: Initiatory

The day was supposed to start at dawn, given that the day's events would last nearly the whole day, but that didn't go as planned. Link slept in, as always, only waking to the sound of Zelda screaming into his ear. They had only 30 minutes to eat breakfast as opposed to the typical 45. Not to much of a change, if it weren't for the fact that many smashers were falling asleep and right into their eggs or cereal.

By the time that all of the smashers had changed into their respective fighting equipment and filed into their reserved seating, they had a mere 10 minutes before the fighting would begin.

The announcer filled the smashers in on how the day would go. The newcomers were still separated form the veterans. Per tradition, only when the newcomers had completed their assigned battles, can they gain the title of 'Smasher' and sit with the veterans.

It didn't take so long for Stadium to fill up. Roughly 10 minutes after the doors opened the stadium was already half way full.

Link recalled that Phil said that the seats had sold out within the first 15 minutes. He wrapped his tunic around his torso as he thought about his oncoming battle. "There's no way that Lucina has no fighting prowess" is the thought that kept resurfacing itself. After many minutes of pondering, Link concluded that she must have some skill with that blade. "Regardless" Link thought as he strapped on his belt and holster, "I will win today".

Phil then gave a short description of Palutena before she stepped up across from me. Then the announcer teased as to who the challenger would be. Zelda was confused as to why they wouldn't just say her name. She finally came to the conclusion that they were wanting to surprise the audience with which one of their favorites would be fighting. This makes sense from a financial stand point because if somebody's favorite fighter wasn't going to be in, they wouldn't buy the ticket, but if they didn't know-. Her thoughts were cut short as Phil yelled her name into the loud speaker and she teleported onto the stage. As Zelda still lacked a strategy, she decided to play defensively until she learned more of this opponent.

The announcer shouted an enthusiastic "go" and Zelda willed magic to flow to her fingertips. Palutena raised her staff skyward and it shoot out a volley of energy projectiles. Zelda threw her left hand over herself and spun on her heel, releasing defensive magic throughout the process. This created a blue diamond that Zelda called _Nayru's Love._ The defensive maneuver deflected the projectiles and sent them in various directions. Before Zelda had stopped spinning, Palutena was on her feet and sprinting a cross the stage. Zelda stopped to face her, she noticed the wings beginning to sprout from her back. Zelda panicked as the wings came down upon her, she castes _Nayru's Love_ again to shield her from the attack. As it turned out though, it didn't, but it did stun Palutena long enough for Zelda to summon a phantom and with one sword swipe sent Palutena sprawling through the air.

The crowd roared louder than before in excitement. The rest of the fight went similarly, with Palutena desperate to make a hit on Zelda and the latter taking the defensive then punishing her. The game of cat and mouse forced the fight to press long and begun to bore the crowd. The supervisors of the fight wanted to end this fight soon and with a bang. They unleashed two Smashballs onto the battlefield, one for Palutena and one for Zelda. Both Smashballs were smashed by each of the fighters.

Palutena managed to get Zelda suspended in the air along side a Smart bomb in her black hole. Zelda saw Palutena rise up and aim her staff towards the black hole to finish off the smash attack. Zelda felt the heat condense in her hand as she arced it to her right and into the bomb. The explosion was big enough to release Zelda from the black hole. She collapsed on the group in tire, she knew that the battle had to get over soon or else she would run out of steam.

Zelda found her salvation in an undesirable way, she saw Palutena charge up her finishing shot.

Zelda could feel the power from the shot all the way on the other side of the stage as she saw it hurdling towards her. She felt overcome with adrenaline that reminded her of her own smash ball that she had cracked a while ago. Within a split second, Zelda had her bow and arrow in hand and aimed at her opponent. Using the trajectory of the mega lazor as a guide, she shot otherwise blindly and put her faith in luck. She rejoiced at the sound of Palutena screaming out in shock.

But the happiness was short lived as she soon felt a wave of power overcome her and swept her feet.

After reviewing the video, it is declared that Zelda one by hitting the net a mere 0.276 seconds after Palutena.

The vast majority of the fights went akin to the first. With the newcomer desperate to show the world what they can do and the veterans worried about going into a fight blind.

At the end of the matchups Phil went over the day's fights with the winner and the highlights. " Zelda, using her cunning mastery with the bow, was able to overtake the goddess of light with mere milliseconds to spare." he would state.

Samus sat lying restless in her bed, going over the days fights with remorse. Remembering how Link tied with Lucina by attaching himself to her through the use of his hook shot halfway through her final smash _Critical Hit, _forcing them both off stage and into the next together.

How Pit was able to over take his dark clone by a well placed upper dash arm

She recalled Little Macs surprised look on his face as she stripped herself of the power suit reveling her Zero suit underneath prior to their fight.

Samus tossed and turned all night, her heart still racing from her two fights from that day. As she drifted into a slumber, a smile crept onto her face in light of the fun times with Zelda, Link, and all of her other friends she has made while fighting in these tournaments.


	3. Chapter 3: New Beginings

Zelda found Sheik in the arena, no wonder as Sheik was somebody who always got into places where she was not welcome. It was against the rules per se, but Smashers were "encouraged" to stay away from Nintendo's ever so important arena. Some people like Ryu or Mac would sneak in to use the net that surrounded the stage as exercise equipment. But Sheik appeared as though the bleachers were a more beneficial use of her time. "What'cha doing up here?"

Sheik only glared daggers into Zelda, who only returned a compassionate glance. Zelda's glance seemed to soften Sheik enough to reply, something only Zelda and, on occasion, Link could do. "No, but I don't need anything I'm not-"

"Stop. Come on, let's go get you something to eat" Zelda reached her hand out to Sheik, a simple gesture, but comes with a lot of meaning.

The cafeteria was filled with people coming in and out for Lunch. Breakfast takes place between 6am through 8am, Lunch between 11am through 3pm, and Dinner between 6pm through 8pm. With a 24/7 gym that comes equipped with every piece of equipment imaginable. Except, so it seems, a climbable net.

Now, it was 2 o'clock in the afternoon, Zelda scanned the room for a table while Sheik went to go get Lunch. They served three different options per meal every day. Today the options was a Hamburger, Enchiladas, and Sloppy Joes. Scanning the room, Zelda saw Samus sitting at one end of the 6 person table and a young girl on the other. The other girl had blue hair, "must be from the _Fire Emblem_ universe" Zelda thought.

Remembering further, Zelda remembered that this girl was the swordsman who fought Link in the opening match. Locking eyes with Samus, Zelda began to move forward, and Samus looked down at the book in front of her. Not truly reading of course, just wanting to detract people around her. That almost worked, save for the blue haired swordsman sitting across from her longways on the oval-shaped table.

Zelda neared the table in the corner of the room, "Anybody sitting here?" Zelda asked absent mindedly as she sat down.

"Yes-" Samus started.

"No, it's empty" the blue haired girl said as Samus shot daggers into the girl's eyes, but she continued regardless. Stretching out her hand "Hi, I'm Lucina. You're Zelda right, I've heard a lot about your-"

"You know you're rambling right?"

"Samus!" Zelda chidded, looking at Lucina "I'm sorry about her, but yes I am Zelda of Hyrule". Before Samus could make another comment, Sheik sat down without saying a word. It was amazing how Sheik could walk up, sit down in a chair, and begin eating all without a sound escaping from her lips, breathe, or her light tread. "Samus, you're still just mad because Ike broke up with you last night".

"That's crazy" Samus began.

"You and Ike went out?" Lucina asked for clarification, but would never receive it.

"No it's not" Zelda reminded Samus the way only an old friend could. The simple phrase carried much more meaning than it seemed to.

"Fine, maybe it's not" Samus started to come to reason, "but NObody breaks up with me. I break up with them".

"What do you want to do about it, sit here and mop. Go ask him to take you back just to break up with him?"

"Why not"

"because it's crazy, you were going to break up with him anyways"

"BECAUSE it means that I'm not good enough for him. That means that I might not be good enough for somebody else" Samus said as though it should've been obvious.

"Well do you know WHY he broke up with you?" Lucina asked.

"No, but know that I think about it, that's the part that really doesn't make any sense".

"If I go and find out, will that help?" Lucina asked. Something about her voice made it sound insincere, as if she was putting up with a small annoying child. But her eyes showed something else.

Samus looked up, but didn't answer, knowing that if she did, she would be admitting defeat.

The two people closest to Ike at this point were the two other _Fire Emblem_ representatives. That meant Marth and the newcomer Robin, Lucina said she was close with Robin, and Zelda bonded with Marth when they were both newcomers, mostly talking about politics and the like. Sheik decided to tag along for entertainment purposes, Lucina was happy the blonde girl had come along. Having yet to hear her talk, she wondered if she was mute or even spoke the same language.

Marth and Robin were in the rec room, Marth spilled out on the sofa engrossed in a book, unable to see the cover Zelda gave up trying to figure out what it was. Robin, who was trying to solve a rubik's cube jumped up to greet them at the door. After giving Lucina a hug, he outstretched a hand to Shiek and introduced himself, Sheik took the hand through her size-too-big sweatshirt whose sleeves went well past her hands. Perfect for hiding things, one might think, which would be correct. Zelda lost count of how many times Sheik had gotten in trouble for smuggling knives and daggers in the folds of her sweatshirts. Weapons were strictly prohibited outside of the arena and adjoining training room. She claimed it was for self defense, even though everybody knows not to mess with Sheik, blade or no.

Robin then held a hand out to Zelda, which she took, "Zelda" she told him as she was released from his grip. Watching as his face lit up, "Zelda, you say? I've heard alot about you" glancing behind him at Marth as he finished "care for a game of chess?". Motioning towards the chess game, already set up as if he was awaiting somebody to play with him. Having played-and beaten-Marth enough times to know that he refuses to play.

"No thank you, actually I'm here for Marth" looking over at the blue haired boy who had still not looked up from his book. Though, as Zelda noticed, he had not flipped the page in a long time, meaning that he was eavesdropping on their conversation.

"Are you sure, because people say that you are the best, and I would love to challenge you to test my skills"

"Test your skills or mine, well I'll put it bluntly. Beat Samus and then we'll talk about it"

"Then just a fun game, just for-"

"Look I know you mean well, but from the looks of it you have been waiting for someone to play. Don't look now and you just might miss your opportunity" of course, what Zelda said didn't make sense until you looked at the chess board. Sitting there was Sheik, who had already moved her left-most white pawn towards the black side two spaces. Flinching for a second, Robin began to sit down, "remember the secret to chess, is to always be aware of your surroundings".

She motioned for Lucina to talk with Robin, who seemed less than willing during the game of chess, so both of the girls approached Marth. "Where's Ike?" Lucina asked, but only got a grunt from behind the hard covered book. The removable sleeve was gone, so Zelda was still vastly unaware of what book Marth was reading.

"I know that you're not reading Marth, you haven't turned the page since we walked in" Zelda reminded him. "Marth" Zelda begged as she sat down besides him, "Long time, no see"

Closing the book abruptly and setting it down on the table "What do you want Zelda, I'm busy" motioning to the book.

"No you're not, besides I wanted to talk to you about Altea", this was somewhat true. Knowing Marth, like the rest of them, returned home while the Board of Directors chose which newcomers would be invited. The other half of her was just stalling until Ike showed up.

"Cut the chit-chat, Marth do you know where Ike is, we have to talk with him" Lucina said, growing ever more persistent and impatient.

"I don't know where Ike is" Marth replied, "and Zelda, please do be honest with me next time you have to inquire information of me" After Marth, among others, went home they tended to speak differently when they returned. Everybody tries to hide their accent when they return, Marth tends to talk more formally with a slight accent when he slips. It's the way he thinks. When he gets mad or irritated, he will slip.

"Fine, he will return here eventu-" Zelda was momentarily distracted by somebody tapping their fingers loudly against a table a total of 3 times "-ally. We'll just wait until then" Zelda announced as she sat down beside Marth, who still looked disgusted at her.

Robin gave off an annoyed gasp as Sheik took out his king, ending the game. "Wait, you can't end the game if you don't announce 'check' or 'checkmate'" Robin rebutted. Earning nothing but an annoyed glance from Sheik.

"She did" Zelda replied for her silent friend.

"When"

"When she tapped 3 times, that's the way she announces 'check', 'checkmate' is tapping 6 times using both of her hands. Rule two of Chess: know your opponent".

It took 30 minutes for Ike to finally show up in the rec room. In that time, Robin had asked Zelda to play chess at least a dozen times, Marth had picked up his book again-first time he had turned the page since Zelda came into the room-and Sheik had turned on the TV to some ninja show that took place in America.

"You could so win this" Zelda told Sheik, who just smiled in response. Lucina looked to be increasingly aggravated at Sheik.

"Don't tell the Board that, or they might force her to" Ike said, announcing his presence in the doorway. Zelda and Sheik both wiped their head back. Sheik was instantly grateful for her scarf and tugged it up around her checks. Ike was wearing a tank top, for the first time both Zelda and Sheik realized how muscular he got. Zelda knew he was working out before they left, but he was always wearing something less….revealing. Instantly remembering that time flowed differently for everybody while the Board was picking newcomers. Samus had been out for less than a week, but for Zelda it was just over a month.

Wondering how long Ike was away, he had always been tall, but now he was taller, well over 6 ft. Extremely muscular in the revealing shirt. Behind him stepped in Link, in workout clothes. It clicked in Zelda, why would Zelda and Lucina try and get Ike to talk from the outside when him and Link were all 'buddy-buddy'.

"How was the workout" Marth asked, not really sure which one would answer.

"Fine, you were right, they did expand it for the newcomers" Ike replied plopping himself into a chair.

"Wait, you knew where they were?" Zelda asked, even though she had a change in plans, she hated being lied to.

"Of course, but I wouldn't want to misuse your boyfriend's trust by telling you where Ike was" Marth replied. He knew this would annoy Zelda, that's why he hit her where it hurts, her boyfriends mistrust.

"I wasn't looking for Link you ignorant slime" Zelda pushed past Marth and left the room, Sheik ran after her, only to be caught by Link, who pulled her close and whispered something in her ear. Sheik stood on the tips of her toes to respond, but still was just barely not tall enough. So Link had to crouch and inch or two before she replied. The first time Lucina saw her mouth move, and she still couldn't hear her voice, despite being so close. Link let Sheik go and she sprinted down the hall to find Zelda. Not that many people could go full spring without a sound.

While everyone watched Zelda leave with interest, Sheiks soundless pursuit attracted almost no attention, not even Lucina, almost. Ike watched her leave with interest before Link grabbed her. Now he was reaching for the remote to change the channel as Marth made a comment about Zelda being nosey. Then Lucina about Sheik, which Link defended more than he did with Zelda. Ike would've defended her too, but he didn't want to draw too much attention.


	4. Chapter 4: Subtle Distractions

**Author's Note:special thxs to **_**Oberine27 **_**for the new follow. I know it's been a while since my last update.**

**Please review with Comments, Ideas, or Concerns!**

Walking into breakfast, Zelda was hit with a wave of aromas. She smelled eggs, sausage, and bacon. Unlike Lunch and Dinner, the cooks just cook a bunch of eggs and other breakfast food, and you walk through like a buffet. She saw Sheik walking towards the buffet line, hugging the wall to avoid any unnecessary touching. Running to catch up with her, the two girls went to get breakfast. Sheik settled with an omelette with salsa poured over to add a little kick. Zelda got a sunny side up egg with two pieces of white toast smeared with raspberry jam to make herself an egg sandwich.

Seeing a flash of familiar blond hair allowed Zelda the piece of mind of finding a table. Walking over to Link, finding herself discouraged to see a sea of different hues of blue hair surrounding him. Freezing in place and anger-induced blood rushing to her face. Sheik saw Zelda, but kept walking up to Link. Why did Sheik only walk hugging the wall when she could so easily move throughout a crowded room without touching anybody.

She walked up to Link and put her slim hands over his broad shoulders. Someone who didn't know better would assume that these two were dating instead of him and Zelda. She bent her neck until she looked down at the scalp of his head, he matched her by leaning back until they were eye to eye. An intimate gesture by them both, but a friendly one to them. Sheik had that way with people she cared about, gestures that other people see as intimate, she saw as a way to communicate without talking.

She bent down and whispered something in his ear, something inaudible to the others at the table. Ike watched with interest in Sheiks movements. The way she communicated without speaking, and the way a select few could flawlessly understand exactly what she meant.

Sheik turned around and looked eyes with Zelda, who, begrudgingly, resumed walking over to the table. Reaching Link, Sheik moved to the side allowing Zelda to fully see Link and the table in front of him. Lucina was sitting on his right, Sheik standing behind her. Zelda moved in between Link and Robin, bent down to kiss Link on his left cheek.

"You have yet to eat or drink anything" Zelda told him. Obviously neither the pancake or the egg on top had been touched. He had a full cup of coffee sitting just above the place his right hand came to rest.

He turned and touched Zelda's face with his left hand, "Zelda, of course I have, This is my 4th cup of coffee today" motioning to the coffee in front of him.

This seemed obvious enough, his hand was jittery and shaking, looking into his blue eyes, she saw black outlines, subtle bags under his eyes. Zelda's face hardened a little "You've been awake all night. Has Samus came in yet".

"No, but Zelda-"

Zelda handed her plate to Sheik "good".

"What?"

Taking Links plate and coffee in her hands. Her looked at her with a confused look in his eyes. "What?" Zelda stated, "You weren't going to eat it".

Looking around the table, Zelda said "we're going to go eat in Samus' room"

Zelda started to walk away, Sheik in her tracks. Link called out to her, "You know she won't be awake this early".

"Thought the same about you" Zelda called back.

Getting into Samus' room was easy. All of the doors are programmed to handprints that only the owner of the room can open. They can program their door, however, to multiple handprints. Only the owner can delete and disable other people's prints to their door. Samus, Sheik, and Zelda all can open the other's door. Same goes for Sheik, Zelda, and Link.

Samus was sprawled out in her bed, in a blue tank top and her blanket pulled up to her waist. Nearby, the jeans she wore the day before was near the foot of her bed, she shirt on the right side. She was lying on the left side of the bed. White lace panites and a matching bra were suspiciously close to underneath her bed, as if somebody had hastily tried to hid them as they woke up. "Samus" Zelda shouted, "Wake up"

Samus stirred on her bed, her eyes began to flutter open, the widened in surprise, obviously expecting to see somebody else when she woke up. Glancing to the empty bedside beside herself, relieved to see it empty, meet Zelda's stare "Why did you wake me?".

"We brought you breakfast" Zelda told her, motioning to the plate she was holding, Sheik already set her's and Zelda's plate on the end table. "but I assume you want to put something on first".

Samus stood up, keeping the blanket wrapped around her, grabbed clothes out of her dresser, and went into the bathroom. A few minutes later, she emerged dressed in barefoot, with fishnet tights streaming up her legs, disappearing underneath a plaid miniskirt. Wearing a thin blouse and a black sports bra underneath. Zelda passed the coffee and Pancake-with-an-egg-on-top to Samus. Who used her fork to break open the yolk to use as a substitute for syrup. Shiel sat down across from her and started on her omelette, but not before passing Zelda's eggs and toast to the rightful owner.

Breakfast, at first went by in an awkward silence, until Sheik broke the silence. "Who did you invite over last night?"

"Nobody" Samus replied quickly.

"Don't be ridiculous, we know somebody was here, you never leave your room this messy unless-" Zelda added.

"Speaking of that" Samus cut Zelda short, "I need to clean up". Standing, Samus collected her jeans, shirt, but looked around frantically.

"Under the bed, left-side" Zelda said without looking up. Samus picked up the last piece of clothes off the floor and put them into her clothes hamper, well arranged them neatly into her three clothes hamper. Shirt goes into the colors hamper, underwear into the whites, and jeans into the denim.

"Besides, why should I tell you about my love life if you don't tell me about your's?" Samus rebutted.

Sheik joked about not having a love life, but it was drowned out by Zelda saying, almost equally quiet that she and Link weren't having any difficulties.

Sitting next to Zelda, Samus changed the subject "Hey, I'm sorry" looking across the room, all three were pretty much done with breakfast. A lightbulb went off in Samus' mind, "So, since we are all done, let's head down to the training room". That was the thing with Smasher's, no matter how different you can be from the person sitting next to you, everybody was brainwashed into thinking training was never a bad idea.

Samus walked into the training room first, Sheik second, with Zelda trailing in the back. Samus had changed into her orange zero suit: an orange sports bra with a matching short shorts and socks. She slipped into her heels and walked out of the locker room. Sheik was wearing basketball shorts and a loose fitting long-sleeved shirt. Zelda was wearing a purple skirt, just inches above the floor with a matching shirt.

Naturally they were not alone in the spacious room; the workout equipment was on one side of the room, with sparring circles on the other. Little Mac was working out on the equipment, specifically a vertical piece that was meant to be an endless rock-climb; but that was not what was made Zelda's stomach drop, but it was the same group Link was with at Breakfast surrounding a circle.

Inside was Marth and Lucina, both wielding their respective _Falchions_. Marth was clearly the expert here with far more experience. Lucina, while a marvelous swordsman, was no match for Marth's grace. Lucina simply took too many needless swings. But she did have a certain ferocity to her movements. That ferocity was used in Lucina's fierce lung for marth, who slid underneath her and righted himself. Before she could move again, Marth had his blade rested on her shoulder, he had won. Before the crowd could start cheering, the locker room door slammed shut thanks in part to it's own weight.

Zelda knew what this meant, so she started walking before everybody turned and looked, making it more unsure if they were staring or not. Samus un holstered her pistol as she walked into the circle next to Marth's.

"Come on Sheik, grab your chain" Samus lengthened her plasma whip, "I'm gonna teach you a few more steps".

"I already know how to use my chain" Sheik responded, even as she grabbed her chain.

"Yeah" Zelda added, "but if you are going to convince them to add the chain on TOP of the grenade, needles, and deku nuts. You better know some neat tricks that will bring in money".

Sheik reached the circle, Samus already had her plasma whip fully extended. Sheik let the electric-tipped chain drop to the floor. The two began to spar, Samus giving advice every now and again to Sheik, who was able to hold her own against Samus' expert timing.

Zelda, who had seen Samus and Sheik both train a hundred times before, walked to the drinking fountain. Before bending over, Zelda saw Link had entered the circle and was now tied off with Marth. Her attention was transferred to the tall boy walking towards her, Ike.

Ignoring him, she bent over and took a drink. Turning, she started towards the circle where Samus and Sheik were dueling.

Stopping Zelda, Ike asked her why Sheik needed to train with the chain.

"If she used it last year, why does she have to 'renew the subscription' so to speak?"

Zelda initially thought to give the man before the cold shoulder, but reminded herself that it wasn't Ike that she was mad at, "When we all re-registered, there wasn't enough weapon slots for it. So it is considered a miscellaneous weapon, and therefore must be separately cleared".

"Why do they care about miscellaneous weapons, I mean look at Link. That guy has a way wider variety than Sheik does?"

"Because they have to make sure that the fighter can actually use the weapon, not to mention that they then need to spend the money to keep the weapon in supply in the weapons room. There are, of course, exceptions to this rule like Link's Master Sword-"

Marth evaded many swipes of Link's swords before he was able to swipe at Links left hip. Marth then called out to Ike, "Hey Ike, you're next. Get over here!"

Ike glanced at Zelda apologetically before racing over to the ring.

"Go" Zelda told him, "The prince awaits"


	5. Chapter 5: The Final Introductions

**Special thanks to **_**Comingdonut**_ **and **_**Lloyd RPGFan **_**for being my two newest followers**

Link overslept as usual, and on a date as important as this. Today they are announcing the new last minute add ons to the tournament. Then we will see them fight a random opponent. As to who's getting in, not even the smashers know. But every Smasher needs to be battle ready just in case their name gets picked for a fight. Typically on tournament days, Zelda would make sure Link is awake on time, but today she didn't.

The blonde Hylian walked into the locker room last. In fact, the only people left in the room were Dark Pit and falco. Link only had 10 minutes to get ready, so he grabbed a towel and walked into the individual showers and closed the door behind him. Throwing the towel onto the rack, he stripped out of his clothes and put them into the hamper. Inserting his name into the ID panel so the workers know where to send them to when washed, the clothes were wished away into the basement, ready to be washed.

Link turned on the water and willed the cold to help wake him up. After a minute of splashing, he was fully awake, so, on a sensitive time schedule, he turned off the water and quickly dried himself off. As he could hear Phil, the announcer tell the audience to take their seats, he wrapped the towel quickly around his waist and ran out of the shower. Seeing that he was now alone in the locker room, he flung open his locker, seeing his Tunic and hat neatly placed. He grabbed his pants and let the towel fall to the floor and slipped on his pants and shirt. Wrapping his tunic around him and tied it down with the belt. He grabbed his gauntlets, boots, and hat, and ran out the door towards the bleachers.

\- Ike was one of the first ones out of the dorms this morning. That means he was out of the shower before the second person, which happened to be Ryu, came out of the locker room. Ryu would've made anybody else intimidated to have to stand next to in nothing but a towel, but Ike didn't care. He was comfortable enough with his own body. His main goal wasn't to avoid intimidation with Ryu, but instead a locker room encounter with Roy.

Roy had a reputation of locker room pranks. Something Ike, among others, wanted to avoid on this day, so he woke up earlier.

Ike was waiting for Link to come in, Ike had wanted to go with Link to sit with his other group during this tournament. Link was one of the few smashers who operated in multiple 'cliques'. He was apart of both the 'Swordsman' and 'Hyrulians', the latter would also come to join with Samus. Ike wanted to better know those in his other group, but he never showed up. Phil's voice rang from the steeple and Link was still nowhere to be seen.

After a minute of rambling, Link finally emerged from the locker room. Slipping on his boots as he went along, he scanned the room for Zelda. Ike rose to go meet Link, but the man was too slow. Link was already headed over to Zelda. Ike decided to meet him over there nonetheless. Zelda, Samus, and Sheik sat on the edge of a bench, respectively. With Sheik on the aisle. Link came up behind Zelda, and Ike sat behind Sheik, giving enough room between the two boys to be comfortable.

"Your, sitting over here?" Link asked.

"Yeah, if that's okay" Ike responded, "besides, I wanted to talk with you about the day's newcomers. But first, why aren't you fully dressed?". Ike was right, Link had his socks sticking out of his boots, his pants were crooked, his belt had turned loose, allowing the upper portion of the tunic to open up as well. Link's undershirt was not fully buttoned, revealing quite a bit of his chest, and his hat and gauntlets were thrown on the ground beside the boy.

"Because I overslept that's why" Zelda climbed up to help her love with his clothes while Phil used a lottery machine to pick the first name, ROB. Following procedure, ROB went down to the stage to meet his opponent.

ROB waited anxiously for his opponent to arrive. There was only three newcomers being introduced today, the first to come was a slender young man with spiky blonde hair. The shirt stopped at the shoulders, exposing his full arms, baggy pants were tucked into his boots. A large sword rested on his slim shoulders.

As Phil spoke of the man's introduction, he walked up with his head towards the floor. Phil finally spoke of his name "Cloud", as he said the name, Cloud lifted his head and icy blue eyes shone beneath the blonde locks.

Soon after the fight commenced. ROB quickened his pace, shooting off an occasional beam which Cloud gracefully leaped over. The only time ROB got the upperhand was when he unleashed his special trick up his sleeve. The arms began to spin, faster and faster until the two arms became indistinguishable from one another.

ROB sped towards an unprepared Cloud. Cloud raised his sword, which got knocked out of his grip rather quickly. Cloud backflipped away from the spinning death machine, then another before backtracking until he was on top of his sword. Picking it up, the now prepared Cloud leaped towards ROB. Only this time he was able to parry the robot.

The fight continued in Cloud's favor, until ROB was pushed off the stage and onto the net below. Cloud rushed off stage, probably to move his items into his new locker. Phil spoke regarding the various highlights of the battle while Zelda watched as Link slipped on his last glove, now fully clothed.

"See, you look much nicer fully clothed" Zelda looked him over, adoration gleamed in her eyes, "Like I always say, you clean up nice. Although I still think you would look better if you let me cut that shaggy hair of yours"

"First off, I'm not gonna cut my hair. Secondly, I thought you liked me better shirtless"

Zelda smiled, it was always nice to have the old Link back, "At the right time and place"

Link winked, "Like tonight"

"Like at the pool"

"Looks like we're going swimming tonight then" Link said through a bright smile.

Samus looked at Zelda sitting next to her, "Focus guys, their picking the second fighter"

Zelda leaned back into Link's lap, who was sitting on the row above her. "It's gonna be you. There bound to pick a swordsman, the second drawing is never as random as they want it to be".

Phil spun the lottery wheel and a single white ball rolled from within and picked it up. He leaned into the microphone, in a clear voice he spoke, "Lucina"

The girl sitting next to Marth stood up immediately and began to walk down the aisle. The attendant at the bottom handed her the _Falchion_ and she moved to the stage.

After a minute more of rambling and building up suspense, the announcer finally spoke, "From the _Fire Emblem _universe, we have Lady Corrin". The stadium cheered and the women entered from the dark corridor. Long white hair flowed behind her, she was in a full body armor, cape flowing behind her. A sharp sword was held in her right hand.

Approaching center stage, the two girls dropped into their fighting pose. Corrin spun and twirled the sword around, flames emerged from the spinning blade. Finishing with Corrin's blade held backhandedly, rotating like a chainsaw, with each twirl more and more flames emitted from the blade.

Phil announced, "Go" and the fight commenced. Lucina lunged and attempted to stab the other girl, Corrin parried. The fight continued, each girl trying to get a single cut on the other women. The two women were evenly matched enough, neither were cut or sliced during the first 5 minutes of the fight. Signs of wear became evident on both of their movements, they became slow and unsteady.

Corrin spun on her heel, swiping her back-handed sword. The sword came towards Lucina's chest at unimaginable speed, but she was still faster. Lucina sprung into a backflip, creating enough space between the two fighters for Corrin's sword to slice only air. Thinking she was out of Corrin's range, Lucina firmly planted her feet.

Corrin, having a trick or two up her sleeve balanced her flaming sword in her right hand. Outstretching her left hand towards the blue haired Swordsman, her arm quickly merged into a sharp pike. Lucina gasped in surprise as she attempted to block the quick forming pike. The force knocked Lucina off the stage, hitting the net with great force.

Phil declared Corrin the winner, but his magnified voice barely was able to be heard over the cheering and outright screaming of the crowd. The crowd was obviously excited to see this newfound ability of Corrins, she would obviously be back soon on another date to show off the rest of these abilities.

Both Lucina and Corrin headed towards the locker room, no point in coming back out, by the time they get changed the fighting would be over. ROB had reappeared sometime during the last match, along with cloud, who was still standing in his fighting uniform. Cloud stood awkwardly against the back door, leading into the two locker rooms.

Phil began to pick up the pace, he rolled the lottery machine and Samus' name came out. She left the reserved area and walked down to the stadium. At the point where they hand you your weapons, they gave her the emergency pistol. She holstered it and activated her power suit, the soft, blue suit merged into hard orange and red suit.

'"She's unsure which she's going to pick. Samus said that she just cannot switch after Phil initiated the fight" Zelda, still leaning back in Link's lap, turned toward Ike and Sheik. Phil began to announce the final newcomer.

"Here comes the final newcomer, a witch from another world-"

Link leaned forward to speak with Zelda, a hard maneuver to make given that she was still in his lap. Zelda could feel Link's muscles contract as he leaned forward. Link spoke with sarcasm laced in his voice, "Witch, another world. Zelda I didn't know you were new"

Zelda would have moved to glare at him but she couldn't bring herself to move her head off of his lap. Ike and Sheik muffled their laughter, Zelda rolled her eyes and spoke softly, "If you call me a witch one more time I'll turn you into a frog"

"The Umbra Witch BAYONETTA" The energy and excitement came so natural to Phil's clear voice. A women in a skin tight black outfit walked onstage, high heels clicking against the floor, only it wasn't normal heels. The heels were actually two red pistols, the women had two identical pistols, one in each hand. Bayonetta jumped, two soft butterfly wings emerged from her back, as she hovered in the hair she shot off a few lightning fast rounds.

"Toad" Ike said.

"What?" Link asked

"Zelda, witches turn people into toads, not frogs"

Zelda scoffed at Ike, mocking him as much as she could while retaining her full dignity. Returning her thoughts to the match, she was weighing the pros and cons of the Zero and Power suits. Against an opponent as quick as Bayonetta, the Zero suit would allow Samus to match her opponent's agility. But those bullets come out fast and strong, too fast for Samus to avoid easily in her Zero Suit, the only route would be to take the defensive using her power suit.

Samus kept her power suit activated as Phil initiated the fight. The two girls launched their own volley of bullets and energy beams.

**Thank you for reading this chapter. Please Review with any thoughts or concerns, each review helps motivate me to write the next chapter faster.**


	6. Chapter 6: Truth or Dare Part 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Smash Brothers or any of the characters involved. Nintendo does. I just made up the Truth or Dare game though.**

After the three fights the smasher's lined up to greet the executive's personal guests. Although the majority of the smasher never stepped foot in the arena tonight, everybody was sweating by the end of the night. Tension grew by the minute in the seemingly small room with the executives. Nintendo's biggest and most important people sat in a row. Calling each smasher, one by one, to stand in front of them and be analyzed.

Although the fights were scheduled to begin at six and end at eight, the smashers didn't get into the locker room until eleven. Looking back, Link realized that it took almost three to criticize all the smashers.

Link wrapped a towel around himself and drew back the shower curtains, walking out at the same time as Marth who also had a towel around his waist. His wet blue hair hung to the side of his head. They both headed over to the lockers where Ike was already getting dressed.

"Link, Ike" Marth tightened his towel and began to put his underwear on underneath, "Let's do something tonight" Pit couldn't help but overhear, with their lockers so close together. But he couldn't allow himself to intrude now.

Ike stood a few feet away, dressed in the sweatpants he kept in his locker. He stood shirtless and failed to find his matching sweatshirt. Continuing the search, he kept the conversation going, "Sure, I've got nothing going on tonight".

"Can't" Link said. Pulling up his own underwear under his towel. Once the underwear covered everything, he dropped the towel and continued, "I really should check on Zelda tonight"

"Check on Zelda?" Marth questioned. "Does she truly need somebody to 'check on her'?".

"I mean hang out with her. I haven't really been spending a lot of time with her lately" Link said.

Ike laughed "We just hung out with her today".

"You know what I mean" Link replied.

Marth turned to face Link after he threw on his shirt, "Just invite her as well"

Ike stopped searching for his long lost sweatshirt. Still without a shirt he walked over the other two, "I thought you didn't like Zelda". Link glared at Marth, obviously hoping that Marth's dislike of Zelda was just a passing phase.

Marth laughed, "Obviously I meant invite both of them".

"Both?" Link questioned.

Marth winked, "I was hoping that you would invite her hot blonde friend".

"Sheik?" Ike whispered, realizing he spoke aloud. Ike attempted to laugh the pit of dread away.

Both Link and Marth stared at Ike for a second before Link continued, facing Marth, "I'll invite Samus". Link threw on shorts and a T-shirt and began to walk out. Before he left earshot he yelled back, "I'll talk to Sheik for you Ike".

Zelda, Sheik, and Samus all arrived at Link's room before midnight wearing their pajamas. Zelda walked in first, dressed in a soft-looking blue nightgown, spaghetti straps crossed her shoulders, the skirt ended an inch or two below her knees. Sheik was dressed in a over sized hoodie and sweatpants. Samus wore the most revealing of the three girls by a long shot, wearing a tank top and short shorts.

Link sat up against the wall on the head of his bed. Wearing a old shirt with more than a few holes in hit, most small but one the size of his fist near his right hip, and basketball shorts. Marth, looking as frail as always stood in the corner wearing a dark, long T-shirt with the name of some band Zelda had never heard of. Rolling her eyes, Zelda shifted her gaze to Roy sitting in Link's desk chair, wearing an outfit more similar to Link's than Marth's, albeit all the holes. Ike was pacing around the room, in a blue and black striped tank top and loose cargo shorts.

Link took the initiative and called everybody to sit down, specifying Ike, who was still pacing around the room.

Link and Zelda both claimed Link's bed, well about three fourths of it. Sheik laid down perpendicular on the foot of the bed. Ike sat down and leaned up against the foot of the very crowded bed, hoping to stay near Sheik.

After a second, Marth started towards the windowsill, but Samus beat him too it. After shooting Samus a rude look and hand gesture, the latter went unseen as he didn't care enough to lift his hands out of his jean pockets.

Link suggested that they started by playing Marth's version of truth or dare. In his version, any dare had to fulfilled within 24 hours and all players must either be present during the dare or see a picture of it. Truths on the other hand, become the scary option fairly quick. If you pick truth, the asker still asks a question. The twist is that other people answer for you, the reason for this is because Link doesn't reveal the same truths about himself freely to Marth as he does Samus or Sheik. Frankly, even Zelda for that matter.

Just as Link picked his first subject, Ike, and asked the famed question "Truth or Dare", somebody rapped on Link's door. Roy stood to go open it, and Lucina and Pit invited themselves in. Lucina, well aware of the game, sat down next to Ike and motioned Link to 'carry on'. Where Roy sat in Link's desk chair, Pit actually sat on Link's desk. Roy leaned back and explained to Pit the rules of the game.

"Dare" Ike looked quizzically at Link. Upon seeing Link's smile widen, he changed his answer before Link could issue the dare and it would be too late, "Wait, no truth. I want truth"

"You sure?" Link asked. His smile continued to widen.

"As sure as I will ever be looking into a madman's grin"

"Is the person you like in this room right now?"

Ike stared at Link, confusion, betrayal, and anger merged on his face. All creating a blush that rose from his checks into his ears and back. Lucina stared at Ike intently, but he wasn't looking.

Marth, on the other hand, didn't skip a beat, "I believe so. Now Ike please ask so we can move on from childish subjects".

Ike took a scan around the room, picking his target. He eyed Sheik for a moment longer than the rest, but in the end settled on Marth. Grinning like mad with amusement, Ike locked eyes with Marth, "Sheik, truth or dare?"

Marth looked uneasy, scared of what he knew was coming. Sheik began to catch on as well. Picking at her blonde braid, "Truth"

Marth rolled his eyes, "A patterns forming".

"Same question Sheik" Ike said.

With Sheik unable to answer, the group waited for somebody who knew. When nobody spoke up, Zelda broke the silence, "Samus, do you know?"

Samus had been passing the awkward silence by watching the Ness and Lucas pretend sword fight using tree branches, "I didn't know Sheik even had a crush".

Marth let out a huge sigh, "Then Sheik please say the answer so we can move on"

Sheik held Ike's glare for a few seconds, hearing Sheik's voice was always a rare occassion. For Lucina, this was the first time she had ever heard Sheik's voice. For Ike, it just felt like the first time. Without breaking Ike's eye contact, Sheik whispered "Yes".

**Thanks for reading. I apologize for the short and kinda boring chapter. I decided after I wrote this that I didn't want Sheik's line to be lost in a long line of people filling out their dares.**

**The next chapter will be just that, if you guys have any ideas on what the characters should be dared to do please review. It would really help the brainstorming portion of the next chapter and perhaps get the next chapter out before I go back to school on Monday.**


	7. Chapter 7: Truth or Dare Part 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Super Smash Brothers and anything related is owned by Nintendo**

Sheik was the second to last of the previous night's group to walk into the breakfast hall. Thanks to Roy's dare last night Sheik was wearing the most exposing outfit she had ever worn in public. Apparently, Roy had been exchanging war stories with Corrin. The later mentioned a young tribal warrior whose red eyes could string fear into anyone's soul. After a little research, Roy found a picture of Corrin's friend, named Rinkah and decided that her outfit was "Hot". He then thought it would be fun to see which one of the fair-haired tribalists the outfit looked better in.

At first it was Rinkah's entire out, although it included just a simple bandage wrap covering anything above the waist, at least she could wear something that covered her entire legs and some of her stomach. That was until Sheik told him some choice words, then the dare was changed to include a mini skirt.

With her face matching the color of her eyes, the blonde women walked over to the table Zelda and Link had already claimed. A few whistles arose from the masses in the crowded cafeteria. This didn't break or even slow her gait, but it did deepen the already prevalent blush on her pale skin. Her chest and stomach received so little sunlight that her skin was almost as white as the bandages.

"You need to get some more sun" Link goaded with a smile on her face. While that smile was contagious for Zelda, it didn't have the same effect on Sheik. It actually did the opposite, making her desire to launch a quick jab right in the middle of the cafeteria.

Sheik did however steal his breakfast and begin to eat. After a few words exchanged and a few rude hand gestures, Sheik's glare silenced Link. Without the needed experience with mini skirts to sit down, Sheik didn't quite trust herself to. The few attempts in front of the mirror all ended in Sheik flashing herself, even with Samus' hints.

For her own self confidence, Sheik sat away from Samus and Zelda and instead sat next to Link. Marth sat down, eyeing Sheik with a smirk. Ike walked into the room after him, and for once covered her chest with her arms. Now regretting daring Samus to speak with Ike about the fallout of their relationship.

Sheik looked towards Samus, but reminded her anyway. _Samus would feel better if she knew why Ike left her_ Sheik thought, _if I cannot let Samus talk to Ike, can I call myself her friend?_

_No_

Once Samus meet Sheik's eyes, the latter pointed her chin towards the man walking towards them, "remember your dare?"

"Give me time" Samus replied.

Ike walked up to the group, making an effort to avoid looking at Sheik at all, much less meeting her eyes. He spoke, "Thanks to Sheik" even saying her name brought a sudden falter to himself, he was struggling to avoid looking at her as he spoke her name, "Roy is coming".

Truth is, after Sheik was dared to wear her _special_ outfit, she wanted revenge. Frankly, everybody agreed that Roy's outfit was more embarrassing. Part of Sheiks dare included wearing the outfits to various occasions, like breakfast, break room, lunch, and dinner. So Roy's dare had the same limitations.

The only dress code around the smash institution was to make sure all your _area _was covered. That was it, but it rarely came that far.

Roy's outfit pushed that limit, he was only allowed to wear a pair of size-to-small running shorts. These ride dangerously low and dangerous high at the same time, no matter which direction you looked at Roy. The bright red shorts brought attention to Roy as he entered the room. Nobody really wanted to see this much of Roy, but Sheik wanted revenge for her dare and nobody wanted to question the anger in her red eyes.

Where Sheik got whistles, Roy got laughs. Sheik stood to greet him, for the first time comfortable in her new outfit, feeling very victorious. Roy quickly sat down, leaning forward to hide his face within his long hair. It didn't change much as his face was the same color as his red hair.

Samus was falling asleep into her eggs, needing Zelda to nudge her awake before Sheik spoke, "Samus, come train with me today. I have my chain examination tomorrow"

Samus nodded in agreement, then a pained looking Roy spoke "Wait, you can't go training. You're not allowed to get changed"

"I'm not training in a mini skirt" Sheik spoke. Her confidence growing with every spoken word, with every passing minute she sat there in the skimpy outfit. The old Sheik, the one who never had more than an inch of skin showing, with scarves covering her face and hoods covering her head lessoned and this new one grew.

"Fine, then change the miniskirt, but not your top" Roy said stubbornly.

"Come on man, just let her train" Ike spoke, surprising everybody. No one else had a desire to join the conversation. Not Link, not Zelda, not Marth, nobody wanted to pick a side.

Roy just wanted his rules to be followed so he didn't budge, "You cannot change the top, but you can change the skirt for a pair of _running shorts_" Roy held a smug look.

"Fine" Sheik spat, "Let's go Samus" Samus stood up, and walked over to where Sheik now stood. Once Samus was next to Sheik, the latter crossed her arms around her chest. Sheik's face flared with insecurities.

"If you two are headed to the training room, I'll go with you" Ike walked over to them, and the three left the room. After a few more minutes, Zelda and Link left. One by one, then everybody else left the table, except for Roy.

Roy made an effort to be the last one out of the cafeteria, wanting to avoid another embarrassing walkthrough.

_**(X-X)**_

Samus changed into her Zero Suit, and walked into the training room before Sheik was ready. Ike was already swinging his sword at a dummy hanging from the ceiling.

Samus remembered her dare, but procrastinated further as she walked into the training circle and waited for Sheik. Once the ninja got out of the locker room the sparing commenced. Samus kept an eye on Ike, however.

He was wearing a pair of brown cargo pants with a blue and white tank top. He was apparently working on his wrist work mid swing.

Samus felt a sharp pain in her left shoulder, distracted she somehow let the electric tip of Sheik's chain to hit her. Just as Ike leaned his sword against the wall and moved to get a drink of water from the drinking fountain, Samus followed him and left Sheik in the circle.

"Ike, we need to talk" Samus spoke even before she stopped walking.

"Just like always, never skipping a beat" Ike lifted his head from the constant stream of water before turning it off, "never change Samus"

"Turn off the forced charm for two seconds Ike, I need to know something"

"Why?"

"Honestly" Samus was silently thankful for the dare, she now had an excuse to have this conversation, "because my dare is to ask"

Ike eyed her for a minute, then flashed a smile, "When I said 'it's not you, it's me'" Ike motioned air quotes as he quoted himself "I meant it Samus"

"How do you know that's what this is about?" Samus forced herself to sound skeptical, but deep down she was angry at herself for being so readable.

"Why else would you be talking to me, it's the only question you would ask. It's the only thing I would know that, say, Link or Sheik don't" Ike paused, when Samus didn't object he continued, "How long were you gone for"

Samus squinted her eyes, "what"

"During the break, the way time works causes everybody to be gone for different amounts of time during the break, it's however long you need to be gone for to get everything at home settled"

"I don't know" Samus spoke, but the look on Ike's face told her that was not enough, so she was more specific, "a week"

"Try one year" Ike didn't break eye contact, "I was gone for a year. Before you ask, yes I am now older than you-"

Samus murmured under her breathe, "only by five months".

"-and a year is a long time to grow apart from somebody. If the person you love cannot contact you, you cannot grow together." Ike broke eye contact and looked past Samus' shoulder. Samus didn't have to look to know where he was looking when he spoke, "just a change of taste"

Ike's _truth_ was that he liked somebody that was in the group last night. "Then I'll help you" before Ike could respond, Samus walked away, towards Sheik. The two women spoke for a few seconds and Samus left the room.

Sheik walked up to Ike, no longer trying to cover herself from her unusually immodest attire. "Samus told me that you wanted to help me" Sheik spoke confidently, but her tone sounded like it was more of a question than a statement.

_**(X-X)**_

Ike and Sheik sparred until they were both sweaty. Sheik parried Ike's sword with a quick kick, her chain then whipped through the air. Sliding past his sword, the electric tip nicked him in his exposed shoulder. Sheik vaulted back until she was out of Ike's wide range.

Ike adjusted his tight grip around his sword and took a large step forward. Breaking into a quick sprint, he rushed Sheik. With her chain still in her hand, Sheik spun her chain in a wide arc. After the chain nipped Ike's other shoulder, he twirled his sword around the chain and yanked. Sheik's new weapon flew out of her hands and into Ike's, looking up Sheik meet Ike's wild smirk.

Ike's smirk widened into a smile, "That technique might work against another whip, but not against a swordsman". Sheik rolled her eyes.

"I think I'm done for today, Ike" The bandages covering Sheik's chest were drenched in sweat. She started to walk towards the locker room, pealing the bandages away from her sin about an inch, airing out the skin underneath. Ike jogged to catch up with Sheik, before she continued, "I'm going to be in the locker room forever. I have to wash these bandages by soaking them, then hang it out to dry"

"Why"

"Because I only have the one, and Roy is forcing me to wear only this so-" Sheik looked to him and raised an invisible glass, "here's to sitting in the shower for the next hour as these wraps dry"

"Then don't" Ike stopped walking, this provoked Sheik to stop as well, a confused and slightly worried look on her face. "Let's go for a swim, just the two of us"

"Like a date"

"If you want it to be" Ike laced his fingers through Sheiks.

"Let's do it tonight, but keep it between us" Sheik began to walk away, unlacing the two hands. "Promise?"

"Promise" Ike back tracked away, towards the boys locker room. "8 o'clock, I'll meet you by the pool"

_**(X-X)**_

Marth tossed and turned, not quite being able to stay asleep. His nap was failing him, not being helped by the intense nocking that raped his door. "Leave" Marth yelled.

Another set of nocking, the same rhythm. First 5, then 2 more a second later. A masculine voice came through the door, "Get dressed"

This was followed by a more feminine voice, "We're heading out tonight".

Marth threw the blanket of off him, walked to the door in just his underwear and opened the door with an unnecessary aggression. "How much do you wanna bet that 'we' doesn't include 'me'".

Link pushed past the blue haired boy, inviting himself in. Zelda, naturally more respectable, waited until Marth went deeper into this room, following Link, and was no longer blocking the doorway to enter. The blonde Hylian rummaged through the Marth's door before coming across a pair of light blue jeans. Throwing them to Marth Link said "Put these on and find a shirt. We'll be in the hall waiting".

Marth had but one leg in before he called to the two Hylians, "Where are we going?"

Zelda responded, "Movies" and the couple waited out in the hall.

_**(X-X)**_

"You're late" Ike was sitting on one of the various lounge chairs set out across the sidewalk. The pool was 25 yards across, and about half that in width, creating a perfect rectangle. Pushed off into the corner, was a circular hot tub with the temperature control on the wall within reach.

Both Ike and Sheik were still fully clothed and held towels in their hands. Sheik brought with her a brown plastic bag, she obviously grabbed from the kitchen. The bag had a distinct _Fry's_ logo on it.

Ike stood, letting his towel fall onto the chair, and pulled his shirt over his head. A year of intense workouts was evident as Sheik shot him an appreciative glance. But the young Sheikah quickly looked away before her blush grew too noticeable. Still smirking Sheik taunted Ike, who had wrapped his towel around his waist in preparation to change out of his shorts and into his bathing suit, "Let me guess, you're wearing a speedo"

Ike simply smiled and slid out of his pants. Pulling up his board shorts, he rebutted "maybe on the third date". As Ike tied his board shorts, he turned his head back around to look at Sheik. The girl was still dressed, only have taken off her shoes and scarf. Sheik was nervously pulling at the hem of her shirt. Ike tried to comfort her, "Now it's my turn to guess, you're nervous to undress because you're wearing a string bikini under".

Ike started to walk towards Sheik, who rebutted "Maybe on the third date" with an ever widening smile stretched across her face. Ike hesitantly placed a hand on Sheiks hips. A quiet whisper emerged from her lips, "Guess I'm just a little nervous"

"Trust me, you have no reason to be nervous" Ike said. An extremely sarcastic grin appeared on Ike's face before he continued, "Would it help if I took them off for you?"

Sheik shook her head in disagreement, in unison they spoke "Maybe on the third date"

**Thank you for reading this chapter. Really fun yet really difficult to write for some reason. Sorry for all the drama oriented the fic has merged into. Now that Sheik and Ike are more established I hope I can move on and do more one-shots and less dramatic arcs.**

_**Comingdonut**_ **I really enjoy the idea you presented in the review, but I believe it felt forced in this chapter. Do not fear, I'm already running over a conversation in my mind between the group where it would fit more appropriately.**

**Please review with any ideas or comments you guys might have, it always makes my day to see a notification and it really helps the writing process, especially if you have any one-shot ideas or any suggestions.**


	8. Chapter 8: Concentration

The blond Hylian had been left alone, although he could've easily had gone with any number of his friends but none of their activities truly interested him.

Ike had been growing more and more distant over the past few days, almost to the point of worry. He had come up with a few different excuses to be alone tonight, if the others weren't so busy they were be out trying to find out which of his many excuses was true. Marth, Lucina, and Roy were off watching some new scary movie about demons or lights or something, Link would've gone if it were either a comedy or action. But the Hylian had no desire to scare himself. With Zelda and the girls off shopping, the only one he was likely to see was Robin showing the new girl, that one who fought Lucina, whatever her name was.

Link was now stationed at the shooting range of the training room. Arrow after arrow hitting the target with an echoing _thud_.

Center circle.

Second circle.

Adjustment.

Center circle.

Center circle.

The story repeated and Link could hear Zelda's voice reprimanding him, _Come on, you shoot like a girl. No, worse than a girl_. His lips curled into a smile, funny thing was she was right. If Zelda was next to him, she could hit a bullseye, then split the arrow with another bullseye. Followed by the second being split, and perhaps the third.

Concentrating on his accuracy and precision, he let a few more fly. The world around Link melted away a little more with each bullseye. Each arrow increased his focus, further drowning out everything else around him.

By the time he drew the last arrow in the bowstring, he thought of Hyrule.

Ilia's laughter as they played as kids.

Midna's endearingly short temper.

Epona's reliability and sure feet.

All of Hyrule seemed so far away, all of his family and friends seemed nonexistent with such a great distance separating them. A pit formed in his stomach that grew like a raging black hole the longer he dwelled on it.

Thanks to Zelda's concentration method. The black hole that would've continued to grow until it encompassed this world as well disappeared a little with each arrow. Concentrating on precision and accuracy, not only the worry and bad in the worlds, but also the good fell away until nothing was left in Link's empty mind or quiver.

The mindlessness was cut with the sharp knife of a door slamming. Shaking his head to rid himself of the leftover daze he found himself staring at the new swordsman.

Searching for a name, Link stared in hopes that facial recognition would help conjure up a name, any name. But to no avail, it only left Link staring for no apparent reason. The new swordsman, a tall slender blond man who used a sword bigger than Shulk's in his introduction fight, gave Link an awkward look of discomfort as he moved towards the training dummies. The man wore a simple black tank top and sweatpants. He drew his large sword and started taking swipes. Widening his stance with each slice.

Link flicked his hair out of his eyes, folding his bangs to the left with his hands. Kind of disappointed that he has been in this room for almost an hour and have yet to break a sweat. Remembering he had a nice sparring partner slicing away at a training dummy.

Tucking the rest of his hair behind his ears, he walked over to the training dummies. "Your strikes are too static" Link approached the other man.

"What" the other man turned and lowered his sword until it was resting on the floor.

"Remember your goal is for the audience to love you, not just to win. Gaining fans is going to be difficult if all your motions are repetitive" Link said.

"Well I did beat that robot" He said coldly.

Before Link continued the conversation he held out his hand, "Link".

"Cloud" the other man met Link's hand.

And the Hylian continued, "R.O.B. isn't as much of an accomplishment as you think". Cloud looked mildly disappointed, "You got a much shorter stick than Corrin or Bayonetta"

"Why is that?"

"Corrin fought Lucina, a renowned swordsman, and won. And Bayonetta fought Samus, one of the original 12" Link gave an apologetic look before retrieving a sword and shield out of the weapons closet. "Come on, square up chump" Link grinned furiously and raised his sword.

"What?" Cloud seemed confused at the use of a very modern day saying like 'square up' and barely was able to sidestep Link's swipe. And then another two quick slashes.

Zelda and Samus walked down the dark street, occasionally lit by the streetlamps lining the street. Coming up on the last convenience store before they got in a taxi, Zelda motioned Samus to go on ahead, "I've got to call Link, see if he needs us to pick something up for him".

Samus continued down the street as Zelda dialed Link's phone number. By the time Samus actually entered the store, the ringing stopped and Link picked up.

"_Hey, what's up"_

"Um, not much I'm just about to walk by a grocery store and wanted to ask if there was something you needed" Zelda said. Realizing that she was alone in the dark street, she backed up until she was leaning up against a building. Typically, Zelda wasn't afraid to be alone but there was something a tad eerie in the air. Nonetheless, she was sure that she could handle herself.

"_Yeah can you pick me up some shampoo, deodorant. Whatever kind you want, I really don't care. Maybe-" _

Zelda cut Link off, "Yea". Zelda wouldn't just not pay attention for no reason though. Without seeing anybody, she heard the trashcan behind her in a near alley fall over. Suspicious, she moved to investigate

Assuming Zelda wasn't paying attention Link continued, "_Maybe um... some baby bottles, formula. We're going to have to get a stroller eventually, so why not now"_.

"Yeah ok Link, I've got to go" She hung up before hearing his reply. Moving into the dark alley, Zelda held out her left hand and the passage was illuminated. She heard footsteps surround her and she stopped cold.

"Who's out there?" Zelda shouted at nothing. Her knee length skirt was tight enough to constrict proper fighting poses. Only her arms were still mobile enough to fight. Keeping light magic flowing into her fingertips, she kept walking further into the alley.

As she made her way deeper into the passage, the footsteps started again. The man was fast, at first they came from behind in the street. Then above, and infront, whoever it was they were fast and agile. Fear crept into Zelda's heart, even an experienced fighter such as herself could have difficulty being out maneuvered in a tight skirt.

Footsteps were once again heard from the street. Zelda spun on her heel and summoned Din's fire, but upon seeing nobody to direct it towards she let the fire fizzle out.

She started moving back to the main street, moving as fast as she could given her tight skirt. The magic flowing through her fingertips ceased due to her switching focus to moving as quickly as possible.

During the last moment of the magic-induced super awareness, Zelda felt the air behind her change drastically with a sharp whistle. Zelda felt the magic return and twirled, spinning her arms to force herself to spin faster. Within the moment, a blue diamond forged itself around Zelda. Stopping a crowbar just inches from her face.

She reached out with her right hand and let loose a burst of energy, only to have another set of footsteps enter the alleyway and successfully blocked Zelda's exit.

Fear gripped Zelda by the throat, completely cornering her in. She stood with the street on her left, and shot a Din's Fire in that direction blindly. Hoping the fire would slow down the one blocking her exit, she turned to the second man.

Summoning some more fire to her hands, She shot an intricate stream of fire towards the first man who was now steadily approaching. Weaving through the maze of flames, the man expertly got in close and raised his crowbar. Zelda clasped her hands together and released a wave of gusting wind in all directions.

Any trash cans that were still standing were blown over and into either of the streets on either side of the alley. The wind was refreshing on Zelda's tired, sweaty skin, but it wasn't very effective at blowing the either men back and both were still closing in fast. Zelda twirled and wind whipped, now in a circle. The wind picked up until it was too strong to open her eyes, then the roar of it blocked out all other noise.

When the wind died down enough to open her eyes again, she was staring at two men looking wildly for her, until one saw her. She was still in the alley, but in the panic she teleported on the wrong side of the men. She had entered it on the far side earlier, which meant Samus and any assistance was on the other side of the two very angry men.

Zelda wondered how she messed up _Farore's Wind_, she had planned the exit to be one Samus' side of the passage. She was answered by a sharp pain in her side and realized she was holding her breath. She began to pant heavily, and with every inhale the pain flared.

She must've been hit with that crowbar as she teleported out.

The closer one, the one without a weapon, sprinted towards Zelda as the Crowbar wielder begun to turn and follow in suit. Before the second could begin his pursuit, he collapsed to the ground and Samus materialized behind him.

Samus started to go toe to toe with the crowbar-armed man, who had gotten up surprisingly fast. While his partner was still sprinting towards Zelda. Before she could pull up her shields, Zelda was knocked to the ground and her phone flew out of her pockets along with its other contents and skidded across the cement.

Samus was on par with the weaker fighter thanks to two circumstantial occurrences. The man was wielding a crowbar and Samus was wearing stiletto high heels.

The man holding Zelda down grabbed her phone, charger, and everything else she had on her and sprinted out of the alley.

Zelda summoned a gust of air which lifted herself off the ground and sent a second gust to knock Samus' opponent off balance, but before it worked he kicked Samus squarely in the gut. Followed by him jumping onto the wall, then kicked off and used the momentum to continue up the wall. Wall jumping the rest of the way until he made it to the roof.

Samus tried to follow, but on the second jump her stiletto broke on impact and she fell back down to the hard ground.

Samus quickly kicked off her now broken shoes and tried to stand back up, but soon needed the support of the nearby wall. Zelda held her arm tightly to prevent Samus from trying to keep jumping and further injure herself, "Come on, let's just get out of here".

With Zelda's crowbar to the stomach and Samus falling almost 10 feet onto the hard ground, the two made their way back to the mansion before their attackers returned.


End file.
